วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 30 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2552

Is an airline legally obligated to provide a place to stay for passengers who are delayed?

by no fault of their own (weather conditions to be specific) if they have a medical condition that does not allow them to sleep on the airport benches?

My friend and her dad had a flight at 6pm to Chicago. It did not leave till 8pm because of bad weather in Chicago. Her dad is very ill and cannot spend the night at the airport. They missed their connection because of the delay. Is the airline obligated to pay for a hotel for them?


Nope, afraid not. Airlines sometimes will as a good will gesture but that is all. What they should do is call the airline, if the person is helpful they will give help sort them out. If the agent takes the sorry we do no have to do anything approach simply hang up & call back till you get someone who will help. It is all a personaliliy thing when dealing with airlines rather than their policies. Have found this many many times!!!!

If the agent on the phone says that they need to deal with staff in the airport tell them to go to a desk that is too busy, step back & see which staff member is less busy. Sometimes if they have 100s of passangers delayed/on cancelled flights best to wait till the crowds have thinned before going & asking. Asking infront of other passangers never works cause then they have to do the same for everyone. This is how I manageged to get a flight out of Heathrow when all the major airlines had cancelled all flights during a snow storm.

No. When it's a weather delay, the airline's only obligation is to put you on another flight to your destination whenever they have an open seat. They don't even have to bump someone from a full flight to get you home earlier. And it is very, very rare that an airline will give you any sort of compensation for a hotel that you stayed in during a weather event.

they only have to provide a blanket and pillow

technically no they do not have to. a 2 hr wait in not an extreme delay. only in case of a mechanical or other problem non weather related is the airline required to pay for hotel. being weather related means they are not required to pay. and missing the connection for weather still doesn't constitute restitution

i do not believe it's the airlines responsibility to legally put someone up in a hotel room when they miss their flight who is medically ill. You would think that if your flight is delayed at one end due to weather you are taking a chance in thinking you are going to make your connecting flight. Rule of thumb for flying: leave ample time between connecting flights.

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